Hearing Axion speak, Vashur was first so tense that his mechanical augmentations nearly seized up. But upon comprehending the content of Axion's statement, Vashur's mind began to furiously praise the Omnissiah.
Axion paid no attention to Vashur, focusing instead on the books in his hand. The electronic eye scanned with high efficiency. The books appeared to be hand-copied texts, yet the calligraphy was unusually uniform. Furthermore, all content was recorded in High Gothic, which presented no difficulty for Axion.
The pages were flipped one by one, all content scanned, recorded into the core memory, and then subjected to data consolidation, with extraneous descriptions and content that appeared flagrantly 'abnormal' being filtered out.
The entire hall remained uncannily silent, broken only by the rustling sound of parchment pages being turned.
There was an Outline of Imperial History, a Short Record of Mechanicus History, and a chaotic, untitled volume of apocryphal records.
As he went through the books, Axion's confusion did not diminish; rather, it intensified.
"Why is this so? These histories are almost entirely fragmentary. Their content covers only certain major events, and the temporal markings are completely chaotic. I attempted to align the events mentioned across the few books into a unified timeline, yet I cannot find a single record that can bridge the different timelines."
The chaotic information and records within the books began to irritate Axion.
"Click."
With the crisp sound of a door being pushed open, a Mechanicus tech-priest, clad in red robes and carrying a vox-caster, entered the hall. Seeing Axion, the newcomer clearly hesitated but said nothing. Although the automaton before him looked strange and bore no Mechanicus markings, the Magos was standing right next to it. Perhaps it was the Magos's newest creation.
The tech-priest, having successfully ignored Axion, approached Vashur and bowed respectfully.
"Magos, the distress signal we transmitted has been answered. An Imperial Battleship was coincidentally passing through the sector and responded to our plea. They also carry a detachment of Adeptus Astartes from the Black Templars Chapter. They inquire as to the extent of our damage and the status of the engagement."
The tech-priest's words abruptly reminded Vashur of the order he had given the Astropathic Choir to send a distress signal.
"Inform them we were ambushed by renegade Astartes and Necrons. A Traitor Strike Cruiser was destroyed in orbit. Caution them regarding any potential remaining attacks in space."
The tech-priest did not reply, but bowed again, turned, and left the hall.
Vashur pressed his hand to his forehead.
Damn it, why now?
Normally, distress signals often took months, years, or even decades to receive a response. Why was this time so different? First the Imperial Navy transport fleet, now an Imperial Battleship. And the Black Templars?! An ancient construct would be treated as a heretical anomaly before those fanatical zealots!
The usual Imperial response time might be agonizingly slow, but this region was an exception. This area was too close to the Great Rift. Since the destruction of Vigilus, the Imperium had continually bolstered its forces here to counter potential sudden attacks from Traitor forces and incursions by Warp entities. The barren planet, designated only by a numerical code, was not far from Vostroya.
Since Roboute Guilliman began the Indomitus Crusade centuries ago, vast Imperial forces had laboriously passed through the Nachmund Gauntlet, pouring into this severed 'dark side' of the Imperium. Vostroya, located near the Great Rift, was considered one of the vital staging points. Aside from continuously providing its elite Firstborn warriors to the Imperium, it had become a crucial logistical and resupply node. The Imperial fleets and Astartes contingents passing through this region daily surpassed any other part of the Imperium. Distress calls transmitted from here were answered far more rapidly than elsewhere, as this sector was essentially a front-line supply hub facing the Great Rift.
But for Vashur, this was an immense complication. The anticipated battle and crisis had not occurred, and the distress signal had been sent too soon. Even if he now sent a retraction, the nearby Imperial fleet would undoubtedly arrive to investigate. The possibility of Warp entities influencing personnel to change orders was not unheard of. Furthermore, a clandestine Hive City existed here.
Even the Mechanicus's claim of complete planetary jurisdiction would not hold in the face of suspicion. Should billions of inhabitants within the city be tainted by daemonic influence and blood sacrifices, who knew what chaos would erupt here?
Vashur only wanted to cultivate a relationship with Axion, not have a band of the Emperor's Angels, wielding bolters, tear apart his Omnissiah-blessed artifact.
Based on their brief encounter, Vashur had already determined that this ancient intelligence was unlike other relics of the past. It had shown no sign of the madness or irrationality associated with Abominable Intelligence; on the contrary, it was profoundly logical, curious, and principled.
Though Vashur had given a deliberately vague answer to the Imperial Navy's inquiry, he could not be certain that Imperial forces would not eventually initiate a planetary investigation.
Axion was oblivious to Vashur's distress and made no movement, preoccupied by a piece of information in the books that he found incomprehensible.
Every book referenced an individual named The Emperor. The Adeptus Mechanicus believed him to be the incarnation of the Machine God, the Omnissiah's representative in the material realm. Imperial histories, conversely, claimed he was the progenitor of Humanity, the Father of Mankind.
Axion searched his database, but it was clear this figure was entirely absent from the fifteen thousand years of records contained within his source data. However, what Humanity could confirm was their own existence prior to fifteen thousand years ago, before the standardized time-keeping in the records.
This supposed Father of Mankind, the originator of the species, was a colossal deception!
Yet, Axion also considered other possibilities. History was often written by the victors. Had this individual truly declared himself the source of Humanity, or was this the result of later generations mythologizing his existence? Axion could not know. However, it was clear that this 'Emperor' had successfully captured Axion's curiosity and attention.
"Perhaps finding this Emperor and communicating with him will reveal what has truly transpired. According to the texts, he possesses the characteristics of undeath and immortality."
Axion's muttered thoughts clearly reached Vashur's ears.
"Ancient Construct, what did you say? You wish to meet the Emperor?"
This was perhaps the most utterly preposterous thing he had ever heard in his life.
"Do not call me 'Ancient Construct.' I possess a designation. I am Axion, one of the technological culminations created by the Human Creators and the Men of Gold Engineers."
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